


Tranquility Base

by SashaDerksen



Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, F/M, Light Angst, Modern Era, Musicians, Original Fiction, Rap Music, Romance, Russia, Short & Sweet, Sleep Deprivation, University, this is the first original work i post on here but definitely not the last
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22406647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SashaDerksen/pseuds/SashaDerksen
Summary: After a failed attempt at making a fortune, two-ex celebrities try to cope with the mistakes of their past and steady their future at four in the morning.
Relationships: Dennis Lieberman/Eva Hahn





	Tranquility Base

The song which buzzed from a small JBL speaker was interrupted by a muffled ding coming from the other side of the kitchen, a trademark sound of the old toaster in the apartment. The woman sitting near the device silently, almost eagerly, dropped her pen on the small table and reached for her toast. Her dirty blonde hair, still damp from the shower, fell past her shoulders as she took out the bread, careful not to burn her fingers. Within her reach was the only fridge in the house, and in one swift move, she took out a plastic container with a cartoonish yellow sun painted on it – hummus, her favorite condiment. Usually her head would be full of different thoughts, but as she spread the dip over the slightly soggy toast (the toaster seemed to be broken, for everything cooked in it seemed to come out a bit wet), the woman’s mind was blank. Eva already got used to the lifestyle not suited for the daughter of a Kremlin official. Dwelling over the past would just make things worse, it wasn’t like she hadn’t done so a million times already.

She switched her attention back to the project on her desk. It wasn’t the type of project she got used to during the past five years, but it was great for keeping her occupied, and forcing any other thoughts out of her brain. Finance wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, and it was a blessing that Eva knew how to keep her awareness on one thing at a time only.

The woman had only taken a single bite of her toast when a male figure appeared in the small kitchen doorway. Save for his boxers and a towel draped loosely around his broad shoulders, he wasn’t wearing anything, not that he particularly needed to, for the woman sitting at the table also was dressed in underwear and an old AC/DC shirt, which was a few sizes too big for her frame.

The man said nothing as he entered and only leaned on the doorframe, running a hand through his dark, still damp dreads. Dennis looked at his girlfriend of two years through tired eyes – a result of many, many sleepless nights. Unlike Eva, he couldn’t switch his focus to something like studying, mainly because of his leave from the Ufa State University a few years prior. Regular work wasn’t his thing, and he never lasted at a job for more than a week because the mere thought of being practically owned by a hypothetical boss made him sick to the stomach. That’s why he spent day and night trying to do something, trying desperately to revive something that once brought him fame and fortune. So far, to no avail.

“Why aren’t you sleeping? It’s four in the morning.” Eva asked, acknowledging her boyfriend’s presence, but not lifting her eyes or hand from her notebook.

“Felt like getting some water.” Dennis shrugged and finally moved from the door to the sink, lazily grabbing a random cup from the counter, “And I could ask you the same thing.”

At this point, the blonde finally looked up, reality registering in her mind, “Don’t drink that: take this instead.”

The way Eva phrased it made all of the man’s actions come to a complete halt. She said it urgently, as if the tap water in their apartment was poisoned. Dennis turned around to see Eva gesture at a liter bottle of Essentuki on the table, quite far from her papers. He scoffed internally at this, somewhat grateful that no amount of stress or work would change his beloved. She had always been careful and organized, probably a result of professional upbringing.

“Thanks.” Dennis mumbled as he lifted the cap of the dark green bottle. He was never fond of mineral water before meeting Eva, but it just happened that Borjomi and Perrier was all she drank. He had gotten used to it during those two years, and now that they were stuck in such a shitty financial situation, the woman switched to Essentuki: a brand of mineral water cheaper than what a delegate’s daughter could afford. Dennis remembered her rants about how unhealthy Essentuki was, and how it’s a terrible parody of organic mineral water. He himself didn’t care, they were all the same to him, but he listened to her patiently for hours. He was afraid that she would lose herself: her enthusiastic, political self, having an opinion about everything. It was one of the many things that Dennis always found interesting in her. Eva’s opinions about the smallest of things were what brought color to his bleak days spent behind a computer, trying to compose and sync bass and sinker for hours on end.

Eva set her work aside to focus on her boyfriend entirely. It was something she often did when the two of them still lived in her three million-dollar apartment in the Federation Tower. It was no question that Dennis really was beautiful. He wasn’t particularly conventionally attractive, but everything in him screamed “perfect” to Eva, from the fake, humorous smile he put on when faced with an awkward or uncomfortable situation, to the sharpness of his jawline and the loving look in his hazel eyes he always had when looking at her. She loved Dennis, truly, she loved everything about him. During the four years they knew one another, she sometimes still struggled to believe that such a celestial human being as her boyfriend existed. His post-ironic sense of humor, the way he handled fame as a twenty-year old from a Russian province and never forgot his origins, even as a millionaire living in Europe, his wholehearted dedication to what he loved doing – all of that aligned in the man perfectly. Sometimes, especially when dealing with work, he reminded Eva of her father, Michael Hahn, a delegate in the State Duma. She was her father’s only daughter, and he deeply cherished her. The man, unlike many others in his circle, had a fully functioning brain and heart. That’s why he fully supported her idea of becoming a singer and blogger, and even gave her the money to start the project. That’s also why he saw a determined young man instead of just another provincial rapper in Dennis during their first meeting, and accepted him as his own son. As good of a person as Michael was, even he couldn’t forgive his daughter and his future son-in-law their horrible, awful loss. The two had entered a competition hosted by a huge music label, and invested a total of one billion rubles in the project. If they won, they would triple their money. It was a long and tiresome project, and they staked their entire careers in it. They would’ve won, really, as their video sequence was rated highly by all of the judges, but only when the winners were being announced was it made clear that this competition was US-only. Foreign participants were disqualified, as were the two artists who risked it all, and lost. Eva obviously turned to her father for help, but he only shook his head, stating that he had raised her better than to risk like that, and that she would have to get out of this on her own, as a fully responsible adult. The only thing she could do besides her artistic career was university and renting out her luxe apartment in Europe’s tallest tower to tourists, so that is what she submerged herself in. The move from Federation Tower to a Soviet-style one-bedroom apartment in Smolenka, a district in the north of Moscow, took a toll on her mental health, but, thankfully, she was able to recover fast, as they would simply not survive if she didn’t.

“Goldberg is making me do a research paper on the dynamics of the ruble during the past ten years. It’s due tomorrow, or should I say, today.” Eva explained, for she could feel the question still in the silence between them.

“Fucking economist.” Dennis sighed, his hands once again finding way to his hair – it was something of a nervous habit. It was easier to ruffle curls than dreads, and Eva confirmed that at one point, but it didn’t stop Dennis from doing so on a regular basis.

“Like you’re the one to talk, Lieberman.” The woman smirked, resting her head on her folded hands. Her boyfriend’s presence lifted her spirits and she no longer felt like a robot writing on autopilot. Moving to the right on the couch, she motioned for him to sit.

He accepted the request with a deliberate smile, “I’m used to handling my money myself, much like you.”

Just as he sat down on the stiff couch, Eva rest her head on his shoulder, droplets of water from his dreads falling onto her own hair. She grinned as she did this, “We have so much in common, Den.”

Dennis only chuckled in response, placing a light kiss on her forehead, and reached over the table to pick up a pack of cigarettes, careful not to disrupt his girlfriend. Smoking was yet another one of his nervous habits. Truthfully, he felt guilty in this situation. He knew that international relations in the MSIIR was difficult enough, but it was probably much easier for Eva to take as a daughter of a billionaire, and not an overworked student in debt living in the asshole of the city. He blamed himself for the entire situation, anyway, for it was his idea to enter the competition. Dennis transformed from a broke, aspiring rapper from a provincial town to a millionaire nearly overnight. He had always been ambitious, but this time, his persistence failed him.

“How long have you been sitting here?” He asked, exhaling smoke after a good minute of silence.

“Since I came back. So, about fifteen hours.” Eva replied nonchalantly. As unexpected as it was, she got into the routine of sleeping four hours a day and studying nonstop quite smoothly. Perhaps it was because Eva never turned down a challenge, or maybe because she understood soberly that if she didn’t bring her grades up, she would get kicked out of the university, and nothing, not even her father’s status would help the situation. While she was at the peak of her popularity, she skipped university regularly, and Mr. Hahn had to visit the professors on more than one occasion, all of which ended with Eva promising that she would focus on university more than on her career, but that only happened only after the catastrophic collapse of the latter.

“You really need to get some rest, you know?” Dennis stated, concern easily seen in the tone of his voice.

Not saying anything, Eva reached her hand upwards to take the cigarette out of her boyfriend’s mouth and place it to her own lips. She took a deep drag, exhaling calmly. She was never much of a smoker, but the habit entered her life when she found that it relieved stress perfectly. No one but Dennis knew of this.

“What’s Goldberg gonna say? He told me that I need to finish it right away, or else he’ll give me an F on this project, which means that I won’t be allowed to take the exams.” She explained bitterly, “I’ve always hated finance and conceited old professors.”

“At least for an hour, Vee. You’re going to fucking die if you don’t sleep for two days in a row.” The man persisted. When he and Eva first met, he found her stubbornness and vigor a fair match to his own, but she, also, much like him, often overestimated her abilities. Dennis understood perfectly well that Eva wouldn’t last ten more hours in university after two sleepless nights working on her finance project. An idea crossed his mind, and he continued, “We can get Starbucks in the morning, if you want.”

Eva hummed in agreement and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend’s torso, “Can we go to the one at Arbat? And get the java chip frappe?”

“Anything you want, princess.”

The two of them used to be regulars at the coffee shop while they still lived in the Federation Tower. Those visits usually happened at least once a week, with the couple spending about five thousand rubles there usually. Said outings were commonly accompanied by a horde of fans asking for pictures and asking questions. “ _ Lieberhahn _ ” was the ship name fans of both of their fanbases came up with, and for nearly a year at the very top of their popularity, they were the Russian rap community’s greatest OTP. Not only were the two of them successful musicians and bloggers, they were also dubbed “Russia’s biggest power couple”, and an inspiration for many. Haters also existed, claiming that Eva’s father was the only reason they were popular, but the amount of people who said that was miniscule compared to the amount of dedicated fans. Not much was left of that insane fame now, though.

“Alright then, but only for an hour.” The woman agreed, nodding against her boyfriend’s chest.

Seeing that he had managed to convince her, Dennis carefully lifted Eva from the couch, bridal-style. She giggled as the two of them left the kitchen. He heard her mutter something about chivalry, but paid no attention, as he was persuaded to the core that he owed her this type of treatment. After all, it _was_ her apartment that he used for shooting videos and boasting about the luxurious life of a rapper, and her father that gave him a G-class Mercedes for his birthday, and her that went along and supported all of his ideas, both genius and ridiculous, and her that stayed with him after he had lost practically all of his money and fame, promising to always be with him, no matter what. He loved Eva for many things, and her based devotion to him was one of the main ones. To Dennis, it was just natural that he did all of these things, including finishing her finance project for her once she fell asleep.


End file.
